DESCRIPTION

This command
creates the configuration files for network booting using
pxelinux and DHCP.

KERNELNAME is
the file name of the kernel that will be booted. This kernel
will mount the root filesystem via NFS. You can add
additional kernel parameters and define some FAI specific
flags. For each host one configuration file is created. The
file name of the configuration file is its IP address in
upper case hexadecimal or its MAC address with the prefix
"01-". HOST can be a host name, an IP or a MAC
address or the keyword "default".

OPTIONS

-B

Set default values for
FAI_FLAGS. This is the same as -f verbose,sshd,reboot

-c

Copy an existing config file to one or more hosts or
templates and enable them for network booting.

-CCFDIR

Use CFDIR as the configuration
directory. Default is /etc/fai. You can also set the
environment variable FAI_ETC_DIR.

-DDIR

Set the directory for the network boot configuration to
DIR. The default value is /srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/.

-d

Disable the PXE configuration for the specific HOST.
This renames the config file adding the suffix .disable to
it, making PXE boot fall back to the default.

-e

Re-enable network booting for HOST. This renames the
config file removing the suffix .disable from it, so the
next time it uses its own PXE configuration.

-E

Add FAI_FLAG initial. This causes setup-storage to
disable preserving partitions. This may erase (therefore
option E) data on the disk.

-ffai_flags

Set FAI_FLAGS. The flags must
be comma separated.

-F

Set default values for FAI_FLAGS. This is the same as -f
verbose,sshd,createvt

-h

Show simple help and version.

-i

Set parameters for booting the FAI install kernel
(proper initrd, boot from nfs). This does not set
FAI_ACTION

-I

Same as -i but also sets FAI_ACTION=install. So a fully
automatic installation will be performed. ATTENTION! This
will erase most of the data on the local disks of the
install clients.

-kparameters

Set kernel append
parameters.

-l

List the configuration for all hosts in short format. If
PATTERN is given, list only hosts matching PATTERN. Lists
hostname, FAI_ACTION, kernel name and IP address in hex. Use
-le, to list only enabled hosts, -ld to list
only disabled hosts, -lt to list only templates,
-lo to list only hosts that do not match any of the
previous categories, and -lg to list the
configuration for all hosts, sorted and ordered by groups
(enabled, disabled, templates, others). Note that a
combination of multiple -l options is not supported
and that in listing mode no other action will be
performed.

-L

List the configuration for all hosts. Also list the
kernel append parameters. If PATTERN is given, list only
hosts matching PATTERN.

-n

Do not create configuration but show what would be done.
This also enables the verbose flag.

-o

Do localboot via PXE. Do not boot via network card, but
use next boot device which is specified in the BIOS.
Normally this is the local disk.

-p

Preserve existing config files. The default is to
overwrite an existing config file.

-P

Add the pxelinux option IPAPPEND 6 to the config file.
This will add the two variables BOOTIF and SYSUUID to the
kernel command line, that are also defined as variables
inside FAI.

node03 will be installed using
the configuration space /srv/fai/clusterconf, which is
mounted from faiserver via NFS.

fai-chboot memtest86+
atom02

The host atom02 will boot the
memory test. Install the package memtest86+ and copy the
executable memtest86+.bin to /srv/tftp/fai without the .bin
suffix.

fai-chboot -o default

All hosts, that do not have a
PXE configuration for their IP-address will do a localboot,
i.e. booting from local disk.

fai-chboot -vc lenny64
james007

This command will tell the host
james007 to use the template called lenny64. Beforehand, you
have to manually create the template and save it to
/srv/tftp/fai/pxelinux.cfg/lenny64.tmpl.

fai-chboot -iFPv atom02 atom03
dom kueppers

The hosts atom02, atom03, dom
and kueppers will boot the FAI install kernel. FAI_ACTION
will not be set unless specified with option -k or -I. You
can also use the script class/LAST.var on the install server
to set FAI_ACTION.

NOTES

Currently only PXE boot is
supported.

SEE ALSO

/usr/share/doc/syslinux/pxelinux.doc.gz
The pxelinux documentation.

This program is
part of FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). See the FAI
manual for more information on how to use fai-chboot. The
FAI homepage
is https://fai-project.org.